Russia Denies Involvement In Aleppo Attack That Wounded Boy

The Russian Defense Ministry has denied any responsibility for an attack in the Syrian city of Aleppo that wounded a 5-year-old boy whose rescue was widely viewed on social media.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman General Igor Konashenkov said in a statement on August 19 that Russian warplanes "never work on targets in civilian areas."

The boy, who was identified as Omran Daqnish, was not seriously injured.

Konashenkov added that the place where Daqnish was wounded was near two areas that Russia had recently opened for civilians to flee the city.

Different monitoring groups in Syria have made numerous reports of Syrian government and Russian aircraft conducting bombing raids in urban areas controlled by Islamist groups and Syrian opposition fighters that have killed and wounded hundreds of civilians.

Ibrahim al-Hajj, a spokesman for the volunteer Syrian emergency group White Helmets, said that Daqnish is similar to numerous victims of Syria's five-year-long civil war.

"I can tell the world there are dozens of Omrans in Aleppo each day," he said.

At least 250,000 people are estimated to have been killed and millions of others have been displaced by the fighting in Syria.